Sofia Coppola received the Dorothy Arzner Director's Award and Laura Linney the Crystal Award for Excellence in Film at the Crystal + Lucy Awards for women in film, held in Los Angeles this week. Hailee Steinfeld was also honoured as the Face of the Future, while cinematographer Rachel Morrison received the Kodak Vision Award.
"There certainly is a wider diversity of roles available to women. Careers don't instantly end at 29 any more," said Linney in her acceptance speech, but overall she was critical of an industry that still provides few opportunities. "Rarely do you have a scene with other women, very few women are on the crew, and what few female executives arrive tend to keep to themselves... Obviously, this is a problem that has been extant for decades, but the stagnation of progress, and the seeming acceptance of such a practice, troubles me."
Linney urged successful women in the industry to mentor younger ones, helping to break the cycle. A study earlier this year found that only 24% of directors are women, dropping to under 5% when it comes to the top-grossing films. Women are more likely to make documentaries or independent features, and films directed by women provide more female roles.
